The businesses are practically polar opposites in size and scope: Kunzler & Co. Inc. operates a multibuilding complex in Lancaster with 200 employees.

Denver Meats Inc. operates a small plant with 14 employees in Denver, a small borough that straddles the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

But one thing they have in common is their dedication and integrity to using quality ingredients to make great-tasting hot dogs and other products.

Hippey's hot dogs

The signature products at Denver Meats are Hippey's hot dogs and ring bologna.

The Hippey's name is well-known in Berks, Lebanon and Lancaster counties.

The business was started in 1969 by Jay C. Hippey and George Sirianni in the same building in Denver, one block off Main Street, it uses today. Hippey learned the meat-processing business from his father, Samuel W. Hippey, who started the Willow-O-Brand in 1939.

"We still use the same recipes for the hot dogs and ring bologna that they were using when they came here in '69," said Matthew T. Forney, president of Denver Meats and Sirianni's grandson. "It's all pork and beef. We don't use any fillers. We don't put any junk in there."

Forney took over the business in 2010, and he knows it from top to bottom. He's invested in the community, too, coaching basketball at Cocalico High School and donating free hot dogs to many community groups and charities.

"I started working here when I was 13," he said. "I packed hot dogs and stocked shelves."

Dogs get a bad rap

Forney and business partner Phil Ferdinand say hot dogs get a bad rap and have more nutritional value than many people realize.

"I'm on a crusade for hot dogs," Ferdinand said, explaining that Denver Meats is dead set against the industry practice of "mechanically separated" chicken and turkey. In the process, the scrapings from a chicken or turkey carcass are used as hot dog ingredients.

"The meat that's going into our hot dogs is probably the best meat in a hot dog in the world," Ferdinand said.

"We haven't changed to cheapen the hot dogs or ring bologna," Forney said. "We still use the best pork and beef possible. Others have gotten away from that. We feel you can be proud to give our hot dogs to your kids."

Locally sourced

Forney said Denver Meats is selective about the quality of the pork and beef it purchases for its products. Much of the beef comes from the Dillsburg, York County, area, and the bulk of the pork comes from the Souderton, Montgomery County, area.

"We try to get it as locally as we can," Forney said.

That sentiment is echoed at Kunzler & Co. Inc., which sends employees to examine the facilities of vendors to make sure they're up to Kunzler standards.

Kunzler purchases beef, pork and spices from several different vendors.

"We've worked with these suppliers for 30 years," John Younk, chief financial officer, said. "They're good partners. We send people to inspect their facilities."

Hot dog season

Family cookouts, picnics, ballgames: Summertime is hot dog season.

"We have a production facility that is built for the summer," Younk said. "Hot dog production actually doubles in the summer. Hot dog production kicks up right after Easter. We make 40 million pounds of hot dogs a year. That's a lot of hot dogs."

During two eight-hour shifts each day, Kunzler can make 160,000 to 170,000 pounds of hot dogs, according to Dennis Eckman, plant manager.

While automated machines do tasks such as mixing the ingredients, shaping and cutting the hot dogs, and packaging, there's a strong human presence as well. Workers are in constant motion, moving meat products from racks and conveyor belts to the next station.

"It's a young person's job," Eckman said with a smile.

"The automation (challenge) is how we can package six hot dogs, or eight hot dogs and 1-pound packages, 3-pound packages," Younk said. "When you see the people in the packaging room with the equipment they use, it's pretty impressive. They're handling a lot of hot dogs."

The third shift at Kunzler is dedicated to cleaning and sanitizing the plant on a nightly basis. Striving to be good stewards of the environment, the company replaced old chemical solutions with Activated Water Technology, which cleans the plant in a safe, nontoxic manner.

While summer is associated with hot dog sales and consumption, there still can be peaks and valleys.

"Prior to Memorial Day is the big ramp-up, and then it gets busy before July Fourth," Younk said. "And then it's a wait-and-see thing with people. Are they going on vacation? Are they cooking out? Is it too hot to cook out?

"We're seeing more business after the Fourth of July compared to last year, which is nice."

Meanwhile, at Denver Meats, sales of hot dogs have been strong this summer.

"It pretty much starts on Memorial Day and goes to Labor Day," Forney said.

"With ring bologna, (sales) go way up at Christmas and continue through New Year's," Forney said.

At Kunzler, hams are a household name, like hot dogs, and become the focus in the fall. Kunzler also operates a plant, with about 200 employees, in Tyrone, Blair County, where the chief product is bacon.

New products, packaging

To keep sales from getting stagnant and to offer customers plenty of choices, the companies occasionally introduce new products and packaging options.

Younk estimates that customers have more than 100 choices of Kunzler hot dogs, depending on the flavor, such as original franks, beef franks, chicken franks, grill franks, southwestern style, etc.; quantity, as in eight, 10, 24 or 30 hot dogs; and package weight.

"It's nice for people to have a selection," Younk said.

Among newer products, Kunzler is producing uncured meats.

"Uncured is a new trend with millennials," Younk said. "It's a different way of making a hot dog. Uncured bacon actually sells more."

The bacon roller is an example of "co-packing": a business model in which a food processor sells a product to a retailer, and the retailer slaps its own name and label on the product. It's been very lucrative for Kunzler, mostly with hot dogs and bacon.

"Grocery stores want their own label on products," Younk said. "We would prefer they use the Kunzler name. But we understand. All of these regional companies are battling to get their name out there."

Co-packing is a new niche for Denver Meats; the first clients came onboard earlier this year.

"The few accounts we have, it seems to be going really well," Forney said.

Business Weekly reached out to Berks Packing Co. Inc. and there was no response as of deadline.

Denver Meats is expanding its footprint.

"We're breaking into the D.C. and Baltimore areas (to the south)," Ferdinand said, noting that the company is expanding its market in multiple directions: the Wilkes-Barre and Scranton areas to the north and the Altoona and Pittsburgh areas to the west.

Forney praised Ferdinand's efforts in recent months.

"Until Phil came along, we really didn't have a salesman," Forney said. "It was all word of mouth."